


morals

by Catheeso



Series: Dream SMP [4]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: ? - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Big brother Dream, Clay | Dream-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Evil Quackity, Evil Toby Smith | Tubbo, Gen, Happy Ending, Hybrid Alexis | Quackity, Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Kinda, Maybe - Freeform, Morally Ambiguous Character, Protective Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo needs a hug, Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), but sorta, hhhhhhhhh good guy dream, kind of, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28668162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catheeso/pseuds/Catheeso
Summary: Ranboo is seventeen. Dream’s getting tired of fighting children.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: Dream SMP [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089689
Comments: 16
Kudos: 855





	morals

**Author's Note:**

> so how about doomsday huh? i-i just wanted a dream redemption arc. that was not a dream redemption arc. 
> 
> will i ever write something without non-villain Dream in it? probably not

Dream doesn’t consider himself to be a kind and caring person who goes out of his way to help people in need. No, he’s killed far too many people, far too many children, to consider himself kind or caring. He does what he thinks is best and that’s that. It doesn’t matter to him whether something he does is good or evil. 

But, if he were to say that he _never_ goes out of his way to help people, he would be lying.

It started like this: he invited another kid onto the server. That kid almost immediately joined L’Manberg. 

Dream wished that kids would stop joining the country so he would stop having to kill them when the next war rolls around. But he can’t change Ranboo’s choices, even though it would be so easy to just rewrite some of the hybrid’s memory book. 

Ranboo and Tommy grief George’s house. Tommy, after lying for several days, admits it was him. Just him. No one else. 

Oh, and Dream wants to argue so badly. He wants to argue with Tommy because Tommy causes problems that Dream has to fix and if hurting Ranboo hurt Tommy, then Dream would _kill_ Ranboo. 

But he doesn’t. He simply narrows his eyes from behind his mask and watches as Tommy - and only Tommy - is exiled from L’Manberg. Ranboo stays. 

Ranboo becomes a trusted part of the cabinet. The minute man. 

Tommy deteriorates in exile. 

Ranboo is peer-pressured into joining the Butcher Army but ultimately helps Technoblade and Phil later on.

Dream arrives at Logstedshire one day to see the place blown up with no Tommy. He figures out Tommy is at Techno’s house. He doesn’t do anything about it. He’d much rather find the person who blew up Logstedshire in the first place. He does. 

As Quackity and Tubbo become more like Schlatt, Ranboo becomes more like Tubbo. The announcement of the Green Festival does not help to soothe Dream’s nerves. Something is going to go wrong, and this time it wasn’t Dream’s fault. 

He can taste ash and decay on his tongue, memories of the Manberg vs. Pogtopia war. He can see the bright bursts of fireworks, the yellow concrete surrounding the right-hand man of Manberg and the spy for Pogtopia. 

Dream wasn’t there, at the festival. He didn’t need to be. He could imagine it just as vividly as if he were. 

He could imagine the fear in Tubbo’s voice, the shouting from the crowd, the apologies Techno mumbled out, the cries of _death_. 

Tubbo was only sixteen. 

Ranboo is only seventeen. 

...It isn’t Dream’s place to intervene. Although, if there were a few extra invisibility potions in Ranboo’s chest, it’s not like Ranboo would remember getting them at some point. Ranboo probably got them one day and forgot. 

The Green Festival nears closer. (Such an odd name for a festival, isn’t it? Dream could laugh at L’Manberg’s subtly.)

Ranboo disappears. Dream pretends not to notice. 

He meets up with Tubbo only two days before the festival to discuss it.

“And you’ll be wearing no armour?” Tubbo asked, suspicion in his voice.

“No armour,” Dream confirmed. “By the way, where’s Ranboo?”

Tubbo stiffened visibly before taking a deep breath and calming himself. “Why do you want to know?”

“He’s on _my_ server, Mr. President. I’d like to know where he is,” Dream said carefully, letting the threat creep into his voice. He wasn’t going to pretend any longer. 

_Seventeen, seventeen, seventeen._

_Ranboo is only seventeen._

“On a vacation, needed a break,” Tubbo replied easily, not missing a beat. How many times had the president had to say that for it to become natural? 

And Dream knows it’s a lie because if Ranboo was on a break, he’d be with Phil and Techno and Tommy, he wouldn’t just be _gone_. But Dream instead hums and nods like that makes sense and leaves. 

Something in the back of his mind roars because Ranboo is not okay and needs help. Ranboo is in danger. Ranboo is about to face the same fate Tubbo once faced.

Dream is not a caring person, but every day Tubbo’s goat horns seem more like a certain ram’s and he will not put Ranboo through that. 

Later that night, he dons a black cloak and sneaks back into L’Manberg. Preparing for the festival takes a long time so people head to bed early, which gives him plenty of time to scour L’Manberg in search of the missing enderman hybrid.

He finds Ranboo in a dirty cell that he recognized as the one Schlatt held Niki in. Ranboo’s crown is gone and his suit is dirty. He was curled up in a corner, shaking, water dripping from a leak in the ceiling, forming a puddle on the other side of the cell. 

“Ranboo,” he said. 

Ranboo looked up in surprise, his eyes only meeting Dream’s chin. Dream isn’t surprised or offended. 

Dream doesn’t waste any time and quickly unlocked the cell (the key was in Tubbo’s pocket and Dream is a master of pick-pocketing, as learned from Sapnap).

The kid was trembling too badly to walk on his own - never mind the fact that he was far skinnier than Dream remembered and also looked half-dead. Dream doesn’t particularly care (he does), all he cared about was getting Ranboo to Techno’s.

“Anything you need to bring?” he asked.

“I don’t think so. I can’t remember,” Ranboo replied.

“That’s fine. I have your memory book.”

Another thing he stole, this time from Quackity who hoards shit like there was no tomorrow.

_Dream one day wants to pluck Quackity’s wings bare for what he’s done to Dream’s friends. Quackity calls Dream the manipulator, but no, the duck hybrid was the true villain here. Dream can see him smooth-talking Sapnap and George, Dream knows he put the TNT under Logstedshire, Dream can see him practically poisoning Tubbo and Fundy. Dream wants to make sure Quackity never flies again._

The journey feels like a long one, with Ranboo half-walking and half-shuffling, leaning heavily on Dream. By the time they get to Techno’s house, the sun is about to rise. 

Dream knocks on the door and Phil’s the one to open it. 

“Dream?” Phil asked, sounding shocked. 

“Ranboo needs help,” Dream said instead of responding, nodding to the kid. 

Phil nodded mutely and calls for Techno. Dream can hear Tommy scramble around and hide, but chooses to focus on Ranboo. 

Technoblade eventually comes over and helps Phil and Dream. Ranboo is placed in a spare bed (Dream’s pretty sure it’s Tommy’s but whatever), Phil tending to him. 

“What happened?” Techno asked sharply as they left the room and walked outside.

“Found him in a cell back in L’Manberg. They figured out he was talking with you guys,” Dream said.

“And you helped him? Why?”

Dream thought for a moment. 

“He’s seventeen, Tech. Seventeen. I don’t want him turning into a ram hybrid as well.”

Technoblade blinked but nodded slowly. Dream gives him a bitter smile, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see it, and started walking away.

“By the way, say hi to Tommy for me!” he called back. He walked away before he could see Techno’s reaction.

Ranboo saves him during the Green Festival. Dream totally planned that. Absolutely.

(He didn’t.)

**Author's Note:**

> you guys cant complain that i only write angst and sad endings anymore 
> 
> gonna plug my other fic you should check out if you liked this one: its all so incredibly loud. its gonna be a big project of mine :)


End file.
